Spotify Sells Music Downloads to Compete with iTunes

Music streaming service Spotify will now sell music downloads after striking a deal with online music store 7digital, stepping up the competition with iTunes’ in the music downloads market. Users will be able to click a link associated with a song, be redirected to the 7ditigal site, and purchase the respective track.

Spotify will initially only allow users to download singles and albums, but could eventually give the option to purchase entire user created playlists. Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but digital rights management software (DRM), which impedes music from being transferred to different devices, won’t be attached to the mp3s. For now, the new service will be available in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

In other music streaming news, Lala is undergoing some design improvements, having improved its homepage with an integrated music player. Another new addition is the “mix” button, which gives users an automatically generated list of similar songs to the one they’re currently playing. The interface has been improved, and is worth a look.

Music streaming has become increasingly popular, and industry players are looking to get in on the action. The problem is, some of the licensing fees (per played song) are too high for some streaming services to afford. Imeem underwent a “restructuring” due to millions in debt to major labels, and I wonder if the labels want theses service to exist at all. It seems like most streaming services, like Spotify, will offer paid downloads in order to pay licensing fees. But, do consumers win in this equation?

Source: Telegraph, Washinton Post